Posts by Raffe Smith

Phil Twyford, being given Housing, Auckland Issues, and Associate Environment (Cities), leads me to wonder that his role will effectively be Spokeperson for Urban Affairs and Land Use in all but name. Which I think should be a really important role, given the amount of public spending in the area, sub-standard housing stock, and misguided attention to rural motorways rather than public transport, walking, and cycling - things which make our cities nice place to be in.

Hopefully this also recognises that cities are part of the environment, and need to be tended to and cultivated in their own manner.

It seems food will be well covered here, so I thought some beer options for Auckland might be useful, as good craft beer is not available everywhere.

Vic Park and Forrest Hill New Worlds, especially the former. Countdown are usually very limited.

Village Winery, Mt Eden - their selection of craft NZ and imported beer is excellent and steadily expanding. Good Belgian selection, incl some Trappist beer.

Liqourland Newmarket & Parnell - both have a surprisingly good selection, incl imported craft beer from the US.

A pro-tip: the above retailers sell a lot of imports - look on the bottle for a label detailing the importer. If it has been imported by Hashigo Zake (Wellington), then the beer will have been kept refrigerated and should be fresh and in good condition. If the importer is The Beer Store, the beer may be older and stored warm, thus potential for oxidation and loss of flavour. I don't mean to call them out, this is just my experience.

Galbraith's in Mt Eden and Hallertau in Riverhead have an off licence to fill flagons to take away.

Lastly, very recently opened is Hopscotch Beer Co in Eden Tce, who have a dozen different craft beers on tap to fill your flagons from. $10/L for NZ, $15/L for imports. Yum, and amazing value.

A good trick is to follow the twitter feeds of good bars and pubs, and the craft breweries, to know where and when the more limited beers are being served. This however can be quite painful for those of us living in brandwashed Auckland where options are more limited...but are slowly getting better.

Matthew, I should have been clearer in my original post. Yes, it should be asked and answered by the congregation and the city of ChCh. But it is the logical question to ask at the outset, even if it is answered quickly (yes, let's rebuild) or if the decision takes time, as you suggest.

Surely the question to be asked about the cathedral is whether it should remain a functioning church or not? If so, talk of a memorial in the manner of the Berlin example seems misplaced, as I understand it the original church has been left as a ruin.This is not to suggest that I think the Christchurch Cathedral should be rebuilt to match the original. Any memorial function could be an addition, or embodied in the rebuild.

Incidentally, the forthcoming revision of NZS3604:2011 (timber framed building standard) places Christchurch in zone 2 for earthquake bracing requirements. Wellington is zone 3, while zone 4 straddles the southern alps and the plate boundary. Any structural engineers about who could illuminate this?

I think the problem with rail on a new bridge from Britomart to the Shore is that the gradients are very difficult for heavy rail.

I believe Joshua has covered this in his blog somewhere (I cannot quite find it), but I understand that the tracks would have to emerge from underground somewhere along Fanshawe St (unless one wants it truncating the Viaduct), then turn north along the new crossing alignment from the tank farm. An elevated rail bridge through the fabric of the city in that area is is probably not the best urban solution.